The Euro slipped lower against the U.S. Dollar but held firm not far from the 2-week high struck after the ECB said that they stood ready to purchase sovereign debt. Mario Draghi, the ECB president, said that all that was needed was for the official request for assistance to be made and that the conditions linked to the bonds should not be construed as punitive. Market players were anxious to hear whether Draghi would drip any hints as to interest rate movement, but at the press conference which followed the announcement, the ECB head kept silent on that particular matter.
As reported at 1:30 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD was trading at $1.3014, a drop of 0.1% from late Thursday trading in New York, and only a few pips from $1.3032, the highest price since September 21st.
The Japanese Yen inched higher following the Bank of Japan’s announcement that they would make no changes to current monetary policy, which was generally in line with forecasts. The USD/JPY pair was trading at 78.33 Yen, a drop of 0.2% from late New York trading on Thursday, and not far from 78.45 Yen seen trading ahead of the BOJ announcement.